Uri Avnery was a Jewish Israeli
member of the Israeli Knesset, 1965-1974 and 1979-1981, and a founder of the
Gush Shalom peace movement. He writes
extensively about Palestinian human rights and is the author of “1948: A Soldier’s Tale, the Bloody Road to Jerusalem”, “Israel’s Vicious Circle”” and “My
Friend, the Enemy” (see: http://mwcnews.net/focus/analysis/4047-the-plight-of-the-palestinians.html
).

Uri Avnery on Apartheid Israel’s
slow-motion ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians (2003): “It may seem that there are only two
possibilities: One state in the whole country, which will necessarily be
bi-national, or an Israeli state in a part of the country, inside the green
Line, next to a Palestinian state. But there is a third possibility: An Israeli
state in all of the country, from which the Palestinian population will be
expelled. Few Israelis speak of this openly, but a great many think about it. Good
people ignore this alternative because they do not find it thinkable. They
imagine Kosovo-style ethnic cleansing: driving millions out in one big dramatic
sweep. They console themselves: "The world won't stand for it! Sharon wouldn't
dare!"But there
are other ways to implement ethnic cleansing: not dramatically, but slowly,
daily, even routinely. Like, for example, what's happening now in Bethlehem.It works like this: Pressure is put
on property-owners. They are told: It's better for you to sell us your
properties now, before the authorities come and expropriate them for security
reasons.” [1, 2]